Members of Saginaw Underwater Explorers float in a silent world

Saginaw Underwater Explorers celebrates 50 years. Bruce A. Beckert remembers where he was when astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong took their first steps on the moon in 1969.

"We were diving at a shipwreck on Isle Royale, and we stopped to watch it on a television at the lodge up there," said Beckert, 79, of Saginaw. "Then we just continued our dive.

"It's like another world itself diving up there; after the clear water and shipwrecks around Isle Royale, you almost don't want to go anywhere else."

And though he admits he hasn't "gotten wet" in 20 years, he's one of many who will help the Saginaw Underwater Explorers celebrate its 50th anniversary this year.

A charter member, Beckert started taking lessons in the pool at the old YMCA at Michigan and Ames when the club formed in 1959 and in the years since, he's held just about every office in the longest-running diving club in Michigan.